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4.48 PSYCHOSIS

Erasmus Mackenna / Frascati Producties
Tue 17 Feb ’26 - Sat 16 May ’26
Sarah Kane’s infamous cult classic in times of hyperviolence.
Tue 17 Feb ’26
-
Sat 16 May ’26

4.48 PSYCHOSIS exposes an individual’s struggle as they try to create a coherent self-image while existence collapses around them. How can you build a life as a human being when the other members of the human race seem hell-bent on bringing about their own ruin? Is it possible to live in this world without lying about who you are? Where can love be found when you are turning to ashes?

In a lonely, manic monologue, surrounded by a violent landscape of love and loss, a person is searching obsessively for tenderness and lucidity. Plagued by physical, psychological and social dysphoria, pursued by ghosts and crippled by shame and rage, they mourn for the past, the present and, above all, the lost future. 

Sarah Kane wrote 4.48 PSYCHOSIS at the close of the twentieth century, when the Western values that had shaped a generation started to collapse. This is her last, and most vulnerable text – a web of intimate fragments in which someone’s life manically unravels, while simultaneously blossoming.  

Erasmus Mackenna stages this infamous classic in the chaos of our present moment: through the lens of its social confusion, angst, revulsion and horror, fed by personal experiences, hauntological theory, the history of genocide and apocalyptic noise and drone music. 

  • Première: Thu, 19 Feb 2025 20:00
  • Language: Dutch
  • Please note: use of stroboscope and loud noise.
  • Fri. 20 feb. part of the We Are Public- programme
Part of

Credits

direction, scenography, lighting design, music and sound design Erasmus Mackenna text Sarah Kane performance Sabine van Kuipers costume design Sanne Vermij translation Han van Wieringen

       

Previous performances in the press

Theaterkrant about Anatomy of a Suicide “Intergenerationeel trauma grijpt je bij de keel. [...] Collectief LENZ speelt het stuk voor het eerst in Nederland en de enscenering is raak gekozen.” Theaterkrant

de Volkskrant about Anatomy of a Suicide “…scherpe studie van moederschap, mentale gezondheid en suïcide.” 

About Erasmus Mackenna

Erasmus Mackenna (they/their) is a director, lighting designer, scenographer and musician who graduated in Directing from Amsterdam’s Academy of Theatre and Dance in 2021. They are based in Glasgow, Scotland, and work and perform internationally. Erasmus has been affiliated to our production house since 2021. Their latest production will premiere with Frascati Producties in 2026: 4.48  PSYCHOSIS by Sarah Kane.

For Frascati Producties, Erasmus previously wrote and presented Sheath and Knife (2021) as well as LENZ (2022), and with the LENZ collective Katie Cruel (2023), Hauntology (2024) and Anatomy of a Suicide (2025). 

In 4.48 PSYCHOSIS, Erasmus expands upon an oeuvre that probes the lives of outsiders – people struggling to navigate the extremes of their lives, as the threat of personal and societal collapse draws ever closer.

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Erasmus Mackenna

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Frascati Producties 25/26

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